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New owner with questions

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New owner with questions

Postby Sunnyprincess » Mon Feb 05, 2018 2:35 pm

Hi!
My partner and I have just invested in our first bird - Sunny - who is a male Lutino princess of Wales parakeet.

We are both new to the world of bird ownership (we have pretty much everything else - not kidding) and we have been interested in and researching birds for a little while. After a trip to our local pet centre we came away with sunny - who is a June Hatcher.

Any top tips for helping to bond? We’ve left him to it to settle in, we’ve had our hand in a few times as he is so incredibly curious - he’ll climb all over the side of the cage you’re next to - intently listening and will just hang around near wherever you are. He will climb on to a hand with treats and food so I don’t think he is fearful - but will considerably nibble at your skin. Some of more painful when he manages to grab skin! Is this something that we should just carry on working on and will get better with time and trust? At the mo we are dealing with either by ignoring where possible, gently unbalancing or trying to make skin not grabbable!

Thanks :-)
Sunnyprincess
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Princess of Wales parakeet
Flight: Yes

Re: New owner with questions

Postby Charlie *^* » Tue Feb 06, 2018 6:00 am

My sun conure bonded with me fairly quickly because we did everything together with him! He even broke out of his cage and woke me up in the morning so we had to get him a new cage! Every day that I go to school I miss him and when I come home his wings flap and tell me "OMG ZEPH I AM SO EXITED TO SEE YOU AGAIN" and continues to scream and says that the pesky butcher bird keeps on attacking him! :sun:
Zeph and Charlie :sun:
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Charlie *^*
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 22
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Sun conure
Flight: Yes

Re: New owner with questions

Postby Navre » Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:21 am

We had a beautiful lutino Princess of Wales at the rescue. We named her Diana. I didn't think she'd really bond with her new owner, but it seems that she has. She just took it slowly.

Don't expect too much too soon. Don't rush the bird. You kind of have to do things at their speed.
Navre
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1909
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Turquoise Green Cheek Conure
Hooded Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: New owner with questions

Postby Navre » Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:24 am

I think the nibbling is a good thing. It's hard to teach a young bird how hard is too hard to nibble. They do seem to get it after a while. My GCC was pretty brutal to handle when she was in her first year. She was the worst to my son, who is her favorite person. My son is also tough as nails and never reacted to her bites. I don't know if that made things better or worse.
Last edited by Navre on Tue Feb 06, 2018 8:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Navre
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1909
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Turquoise Green Cheek Conure
Hooded Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: New owner with questions

Postby Pajarita » Tue Feb 06, 2018 10:34 am

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new family member! Leaving it be for the first two weeks is the right thing to do. This doesn't mean that you should not allow the bird to come out of its cage, you should, but it means that, unless the bird takes the first step toward getting closer to you, you should not push it to do so. If the bird is moving closer to the side of the cage where you are and hanging on to the bars, he wants to come out and either approach you or, at the very least, observe you more closely so do open the door and allow him to come out. Put [you can tie them with untreated sisal rope which will provide its own entertainment for the bird] tree branches on the side of the cage that go up [they love to climb up as height means safety for birds], talk, whistle, sing, dance, etc and, every now and then, offer him a treat BUT if he doesn't take it from your fingers, just leave it where he can get it and walk away. This treat is not a bribe or a reward, it's a gift from you to him, a token of friendship to let him know that you want like him and want him to like you. If, when you are standing close enough, he tries to climb on you, let him. They need physical closeness as much as they need air -the need is hard-wired into their brains and no bird bonds closely to a human if it's not allowed access to him/her. Make sure you feed it right meaning never free-feed protein food [it will end up messing up its liver and kidneys], he is still young enough to learn to eat new foods easily but it will get harder as he gets older.

As to hard beaking [this is when they start nipping you a bit too hard], all I do is complain loudly with an OUCH! and tell them: "Gently, gently' and praise, praise, praise as soon as they release the pressure. I've never understood why some people believe that not reacting is helpful... These are highly intelligent animals that have wonderful control over their beaks and the pressure they exert with it so it's just a matter of them learning what is too hard for us, defective, featherless birds that we are. They are also highly empathetic and do not like to cause pain so the not reacting is just confusing to them, if you ask me. All my birds came from somebody else [I am an animal lover so I only adopt, rehome or rescue] and most of them came with aggression issues but they all end up working out great after a while. Right now, I am dealing with Javi, a black-capped caique that gets all bent out of shape when he gets startled or is upset about not getting what he wants. He has this habit of pinching just the merest amount of skin a bit too hard and in a very quick succession but he is already learning and, although he is still doing it [but not as often], he stops when I go "OUCH!".

Most of all, keep steady and completely unchanging daily routines [and that means weekdays, weekends, holidays, your birthday, when you are sick, etc]. Nothing makes them feel more secure and at ease than going through the same schedule every single day. It's what they do in the wild and it goes a loooooong way toward getting them used to their new home AND diminishing the inevitable stress of captivity [they are undomesticated species and the fact that they are born in captivity doesn't change the physical and emotional needs they have which are identical to the birds in the wild and which we cannot fulfill].
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
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Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: New owner with questions

Postby liz » Tue Feb 06, 2018 11:59 am

I did not raise my voice with my kids. I reserved that for emergencies. I say owe when Myrtle bites too hard. I have resorted to raising my voice with her for other things like "Get out of that cabinet" or "you can't have that".
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liz
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7234
Location: Hernando FL
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BF Amazon Myrtle
Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
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